Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

(Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction) The Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and the Romanov family here relates the saga of an obscure German princess named Sophia who traveled to Russia at 14 and rose to become one of the most powerful and remarkable women in history. Possessing a brilliant mind and an insatiable curiosity, she changed her name and transformed herself into Empress of Russia by sheer determination. She devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire. She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and even the American naval hero John Paul Jones. Reaching the throne fired by Enlightenment philosophy and determined to become the embodiment of the "benevolent despot" idealized by Montesquieu, she found herself always contending with the deeply ingrained realities of Russian life, including serfdom. Her reputation depended entirely on the perspective of the speaker; she was praised by Voltaire as the equal of the greatest of classical philosophers, yet was condemned by her enemies, mostly foreign, as "the Messalina of the north."

"[Robert] Massie once again delivers a masterful, intimate, and tantalizing portrait of a majestic monarch."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)